The American Hospital Association (AHA) has exclusively endorsed AT&T’s healthcare

information exchange (HIE) services. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals and healthcare systems, networks, other providers of care and 37,000 individuals. AHA Solutions, a subsidiary of AHA, awards the AHA endorsement to products and services that help member hospitals and healthcare organizations achieve operational excellence. It endorsed AT&T following an extensive evaluation selection process of various HIE service providers. AT&T’s flagship HIE service, AT&T Healthcare Community Online (HCO) enables the highly secure exchange and sharing of patient health data across mul- tiple health systems. The cloud-based health information exchange and portal integrates patient records and data from multiple sources into a single patient view, provid- ing real-time access for physicians to patient information and eHealth applications. AHA’s endorsement of AT&T HCO builds upon the endorsement of AT&T’s voice and data networking services in 2006 and AT&T’s wireless services in early 2010. AHA’s new exclusive endorse- ment now includes AT&T’s HIE, voice, data networking and wireless services.

The primary drivers for healthcare information tech- nology (HIT) improvements in the U.S. have been to achieve a signifi cant reduction in costs and to improve patient care. AT&T HCO allows healthcare providers to save time and money by enabling them to utilize their existing IT infrastructure and integrate it with new ap- plications, enabling the secure, community-wide health information exchange of electronic medical records. AT&T HCO securely shares patient and medical data across applications the provider has selected. Similarly, many applications within AT&T HCO are associated with state, federal and not-for-profi t organizations that monitor critical components of a patient’s medical his- tory. AT&T HCO as a single point of integration for a HIE is designed to: • Connect providers with other healthcare providers and entities;

• Increase access and availability of patient and medical information;

The client for teleradiology is shifting, according to new research from inde-

pendent healthcare technology research fi rm KLAS. Teleradiology contracts have been held historically by local radiology groups; however, in the newly published report, KLAS found that hospitals and clinics now hold close to 40 percent of teleradiology contracts. “It was surprising to see this shift in teleradiology contracts from radiology groups to a mixture that in- cludes radiology groups, hospitals and clinics,” says Emily Crane, KLAS research director and author of the report. “In several situations, teleradiology decisions are being made at the health system level.” The inaugural “Teleradiology Study 2010: A Detailed

Read on the Market” report reviews four national and four smaller teleradiology vendors; of these, smaller teleradiology companies showed performance scores as high as – and in some cases higher than – large, national companies.

4 December 2010

“National companies, such as NightHawk and vRad, still get the most attention from providers,” Crane says. “However, some regional vendors, such as NightRays and Alta Vista, are delivering fl exibility, communication and read quality that is highly competitive with the national vendors in this study.”

The study also notes a very promising market, with 80 percent of interviewed providers anticipating increased teleradiology volumes over the next few years. “Several providers also mentioned a desire for more fi nal reads from their teleradiology company,” says Crane. The top-rated national vendor in the study was Vir- tual Radiologic, with a score of 89.7 out of 100. Other vendors studied in the report include: Alta Vista Radiol- ogy, Imaging On Call, Nighthawk, NightRays, ONRAD, Radisphere and Teleradiology Solutions. For more information about the teleradio- logy market or to order a copy of the report, visit www.KLASresearch.com/reports.